Harry Kane hits out at teammates dropping out of England duty

'I don't really like it if I'm totally honest - England comes before anything'

England take on Greece and the Republic of Ireland in their final two Nations League games as they look to earn promotion to the top tier of the competition.

However, in the build up to the games, a number of key players have dropped out of the squad. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Jarrad Branthwaite, Levi Colwill and Aaron Ramsdale will all be unavailable to interim manager Lee Carsley.

The number of absentees has clearly not sat well with England captain Kane, who accused some players of 'taking advantage' of the busy domestic club schedules to bail on international duty.

Speaking to ITV ahead of the game, the Bayern Munich striker was asked what he thought was the main thing Gareth Southgate brought to the England setup that the senior players need to make sure isn't lost.

Kane responded: "I think the joy to play for England, I think he brought that back.

“Every camp, people were excited to come, every camp people wanted to play for England. And yeah, that’s the most important thing. I think England comes before anything.

"England comes before club. England is the most important thing.

"You play as a professional footballer. Gareth [Southgate] was hot on that, and wasn't afraid to decisions if that started to drift from certain players."

Asked if he thought this mindset had waned for this particular international break, the forward said: "It's a shame this week.

"Obviously I think it's a tough period of the season and maybe that's been taken advantage of that a little bit.

"I don't really like it if I'm totally honest. Like I said there, England comes before anything."

England take on Greece in Athens this evening, before hosting Ireland at Wembley on Sunday. They will likely need to win both games if they want to secure promotion from League B and make it into the top tier of the competition for 2026-2027.

It is expected that Kane will be a shock emission from England's starting XI for the Greece game, with Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins set to start in the No 9 role.

The Guardian reports that the selection news has "caused surprise within a dressing room that has been undermined by a flurry of withdrawals."

The matches will be Lee Carsley's final games in charge as interim manager, before Thomas Tuchel takes over as England manager.